Hunted | A HermitCraft AU

Blackmail can be fun, right?

When False had heard mention of Xisuma, she ran.

It wasn't a logical or normal reaction to hearing his name, but, well, she just couldn't explain anything to them.

Not when Xisuma knew that she knew that something was wrong with hims and that he had Cleo.

False's best chance at being able to help her friends and not get herself booted from HermitCraft for spilling Xisuma's secret was to not say anything about the admin at all, really. She'd thought it out.

Kinda.

Her issue was that even if Mumbo was right, and Grian wasn't actually Grian, Stress wasn't Stress and Xisuma wasn't Xisuma, whatever was in Xisuma's place had Xisuma's communicator.

You know, the small, pocket sized device that controlled who was banned from the server?

Yeah.

False wasn't safe.

Landing at and entering her base, False shed her elytra from her back, putting her armour on an armour stand to free some space up from her inventory. Her sword stayed by her side as she moved throughout her base, emptying out her inventory.

The moment that False let down her guard, she found herself pinned to a wall, a hand pressing into her back. She was disarmed easily as her attacker pulled her sword from its holder on False's waist, the sword thrown to the ground nearby. False could hear the clatter of the diamond blade hitting the floor, the attacker now using both hands to push False to the wall.

"Who's there?" She asked, her teeth gritted together.

False's attacker laughed, and her heart sank into her chest.

"You know me. Well, you know my host." Xisuma's voice was rough and cold and False hated it, the HermitCraft admin uncharacteristically rough and cruel.

"Let me go." False said, her voice as calm as she could make it. "If you want to talk to me, then we'll talk. Just let me go."

Xisuma laughed. "If you pull one wrong move, you know what'll happen."

The pressure of Xisuma's hands left False's back and she winced, knowing for certain that she was going to be bruised tomorrow. She turned around to face Xisuma, spotting the admin grinning. His helmet was gone, which set off all possible red flags (Xisuma never took off his helmet unless really trusted you, or he was alone) for False, a smirk on his face.

His eyes were the same as they'd been when False had watched Cleo be taken, and False felt a shiver run up her spine. Something about Xisuma's eyes when they were weirdly coloured and glowing scared her.

"What do you want, Xisuma?" False asked as Xisuma's smirk turned into a full out grin.

"My name is Rowan, False, and I will be addressed by that name. Your precious Xisuma isn't here right now." Xisuma - or Rowan, the thing apparently replacing Xisuma - said, staring at False.

"Anyhow, you know my little secret. You know I have Cleo, and for that, I need to deal with you." Rowan shrugged, and False could feel a strong sense of fear building up in her chest. False had a very bad feeling about this.

"Now, I could just ban you and get you out of my way. Questions would be asked however, and lying isn't my specialty. I could always take you and use you like you're little friend Cleo, but that's not fun when I already have someone to do my bidding. So I'm going to play a fun game that Heidi introduced me to a while back." Rowan grinned at False.

"Blackmail. Well, something similar. I tell you to do things and cut people out, and you do as you're told unless you want me to hurt Cleo, or better yet, get Heidi to blow everything and everyone up. You wouldn't want that, now would you?"

Rowan stared into False's eyes, and she hated it so god damn much, but she couldn't fight against him.

She didn't want anyone to get hurt.

Rowan must have realised that, staring at False through Xisuma's eyes. "Your first job is to cut them off. The 'troublemakers'. Mumbo Jumbo, Doc, Iskall, Jevin, all of them. I don't want to hear you speaking to them."

False knew exactly what Rowan was playing at.

If she distanced herself from Mumbo and Iskall and everyone who was trying to figure out the truth, and help Grian and Stress and Xisuma and take down a thing that none of them knew anything about, then she was incapable of helping them and protecting them from Rowan.

This was a lose - lose situation for False. She either did as she was told and keep Cleo from harm, but put Mumbo and Iskall and Doc and Jevin from harm, or she could break Rowan's rules and warn the others at the expense of Cleo's safety and her own safety.

"I'll obey your rules, Rowan, but don't think I'll like doing it at all." False finally decided, spitting out her words.

Rowan grinned at her. "Just as I thought you would. Now, I'll leave you to think your choice over."

Rowan left False's base, and False had honestly never felt worse in her entire life.

Nothing good was going to come out of this, False knew it.

And she absolutely hated it.